The Fort Smith Fire Department is investing in six new fire vehicles, including three ladder trucks.

Crews from the department will be traveling to Wisconsin within the next week to conduct final inspections on the new vehicles.

Chief Mike Richards says the department’s need for vehicles has grown over the last few years.

“We have a lot of fire apparatuses that are getting very old,” says Richards. “We've got one pumper that’s in service right now as a reserve truck that’s almost 30 years old.”

Richards says after the economy collapsed in 2008, purchasing new trucks was not in the budget.

“From 2000 to 2007 we bought one new truck a year,” says Richard. “But when the economy went bad, it made it real tough to buy any new equipment from that point on. This will help us replace our older apparatuses with more reliable equipment."

Money to pay for the new engines comes from a recent sales tax increase that Fort Smith voters passed last March.